The Zafarani Files

by Gamal Al Ghitani

Zafarani Alley, Cairo, 1974 has ordinary inhabitants: minor civil servants, pimps, idealists, harridans, but its men have all - except one - been cursed with impotence. Fast, funny and thought-provoking this is magical realism at its very best.

Extract

Realising that the cause was Skina's jealousy over her husband, a strange thought occurred to her. Would Skina be jealous over an impotent husband? Had she found the only man in Zafarani at last? Would she be able to cure her insomnia, her nocturnal shortness of breath, her tossing and turning? She would turn her attention to Qadusi from now on.